


Oblivious

by fortgaylem



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: F/F, Raelle is oblivious, Scylla is frustrated and confused, Tally is captain of the Raylla ship, and a bad Spree agent, idiocy ensues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:07:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24219394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortgaylem/pseuds/fortgaylem
Summary: What if Raelle hadn't picked up on Scylla's obvious flirting in episode 1 and was utterly oblivious instead?Slower-burn Raylla. Starts during ~that scene~ in episode 1 and quickly diverts from it.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 9
Kudos: 184





	Oblivious

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever so be gentle!

Scylla’s back was to Raelle as she fluffed her hair in the mirror, Raelle doing everything in her power not to stare. But when your new friend was that attractive—and was brushing her perfect hair around her face like that—it was impossible to look away.  
“That was your plan?” Scylla tucked a tuft behind her earlobe. “Waste all that youth, and beauty?”  
Raelle’s head snapped up. Did she just call her—  
“Your plan was hot garbage. It’s winning by losing,” Scylla continued. She gave her those teasing eyes through the mirror, that smirk that challenged the “hot garbageness” of Raelle’s plan. But she did call her beautiful just now, didn’t she?  
Raelle had two options: flirt back—assuming flirting was what Scylla was doing—or stop reading into things.  
“Well, I hate to break it to you...” Raelle faltered. “But there’s no way out.”  
“I know a way.” Scylla turned to face her now, eyes sparkling with something Raelle couldn’t quite place. She took a step forward, toward Raelle. Exclamation points flared in Raelle’s brain. _Pretty girl getting closer._ Raelle took a step backward. If Scylla got too close, whatever was left of her war meat brain would definitely turn to mush.  
Scylla looked her up and down, taking in her near-panicked retreat, the anxiety most likely betrayed on her face. “Shy, are we?”  
“No.” Raelle cursed herself for being so pale—the blush igniting her cheeks must have looked like a stop sign to Scylla. “Just, tell me what your plan is.”  
Scylla smiled. “The way over, is under. The way out...” Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “...is in.” Scylla cocked an eyebrow as she inched closer still.  
And Raelle? Raelle backed up until the wall gave her a nice smack on the ass.  
 _Play it cool, Raelle._ “Well, uh, thank you. I gotta go now. I won’t hear the end of it from High Atlantic if I’m late for dinner.”  
“You sure you don’t wanna stay a little longer?” The smirk was back on Scylla’s lips— _no, don’t look at her lips, Raelle._  
“Yep, gotta go.” With a wave so awkward Raelle wanted to cut her hand off, she bid Scylla goodnight and bolted out the door.  
So much for playing it cool.

Raelle didn’t see Scylla for the next few days. It was probably better that way, what with everything else going on—Abigail, training, Abigail, Abigail. She didn’t need another thing clogging her mind, especially one she didn’t have a chance with.  
It wasn’t until one afternoon, when she was on her way back home from a particularly rigorous day of training, that she heard a “Been hiding from me, huh?”  
Raelle wheeled around and there she was, ever-present smile wide as usual, sunlight bouncing off her hair and tinting it auburn, hands squarely in her pockets as she strode up to Raelle.  
“’Course not. Just busy with training,” Raelle said.  
“You free now?”  
“I—”  
“Come with me,” Scylla said, and bounded off for the tree line.  
Raelle watched her go, unsure whether or not to follow. She’d be alone with the girl yet again. What if she said or did something stupid, and worse than last time? What if—  
“Remember what I told you about living a little?” Scylla said, and all rational thought flew out the window at the sound of that voice.  
Scylla led her deep in the woods, well beyond visibility of any on-base buildings.  
“Where are we going?” Raelle asked.  
“Patience, beautiful.”  
Raelle stumbled over her shoe, making Scylla chuckle. It was as if she were trying to get a rise out of Raelle, and was exploiting the weak spot she’d so cleverly discovered the last time they interacted.  
Of course, another possibility could be that she was flir—  
“We’re here,” Scylla said, and gestured in front of her to a sprawling meadow. It was such a contrast to the tightly knit trees of the forest, with flowers ranging from yellow to orange to baby pink. Fort Salem’s own natural rainbow.  
Raelle managed to take it in without gasping. “How did you find this place?”  
“I got restless one week my first year and did some exploring. Lucky me, right?”  
“It’s amazing,” Raelle said. The girl always knew how to make her feel free, even in an army boot camp.  
Scylla laid down to make a snow angel beside a tangle of sunflowers. She patted the ground next to her. “Come lie with me.”  
Raelle obliged, careful to leave a feet between them.  
“Why are you so far?” Scylla asked. She rolled over until her arm brushed Raelle’s.  
Raelle froze, shut her eyes, tried to abate her sudden nerves. Scylla’s beautiful voice as she told her more about this place wasn’t exactly helping. How could a _voice_ be so attractive?  
“As a necro, I handle death so much. But death is part of a cycle, a cycle that includes life. It’s good to appreciate the life part sometimes.” Scylla gestured to the botany around them. “So I come here. It helps me clear my mind.”  
“You have a great secret hangout place.”  
“ _We_ do,” Scylla said, and nudged Raelle’s arm with her own.  
Raelle struggled not to break into a grin.  
“What about you? What’s your happy place?” Scylla asked.  
“This nature trail in walking distance from my house, back in Chippewa Cession.”  
“I’d love to see it someday.”  
Raelle snorted. “A flight out there wouldn’t be worth it unless you lived there, trust me.”  
“It’d be worth it to see you.”  
Raelle’s cheeks flushed and her stomach rumbled at the same time.  
Scylla caught on to the latter. “Hungry?”  
“Yeah, sorry,” Raelle said. “Lot of training today.”  
Scylla turned to look at her, her eyes lighting up. “Do you want to get dinner together? The two of us?”  
Raelle couldn’t understand why Scylla would want to eat at the same table as Abigail, but she couldn’t decline a request from the necro.

Scylla seemed to have a spring in her step ever since Raelle said “yes” to her dinner proposition, but she faltered when Raelle led her to the Bellweather table. She knew Scylla would reconsider the second Abigail shot her one of her High Atlantic glares.  
“You know, you don’t have to sit with us,” Raelle said. “I get it. Abigail can be a bit...”  
“Yeah, I know,” Scylla said. “It’s not that. It’s just, when I asked you to get dinner, I meant—"  
“Raelle?”  
Raelle turned to meet the very High Atlantic glare that was scaring Scylla off.  
“Were you planning on joining us, or were you gonna keep talking to whoever this is?” Abigail gave Scylla a once-over.  
Scylla’s smile didn’t leave her face. “Aren’t you gonna introduce me?” she asked Raelle.  
“Um, guys, this is Scylla. Scylla, this is my unit, Abigail and Tally.”  
Tally beamed at Scylla as the two took their seats. “You’re really pretty!”  
“Thanks,” Scylla said. Did she look...bashful? No way was Tally going to flirt with her better than Raelle did.  
“I—I agree,” she managed through a mouthful of peas.  
Scylla gave Raelle that stupid, obnoxious, annoyingly cute smirk. “I think that’s the first compliment you’ve ever given me. Who knew you had a soft side?”  
“Yeah, well,” Raelle grumbled.  
Tally’s smile grew wider as she moved her eyes between them, but Abigail remained frowning. “Don’t think I’ve seen you around in training,” she said to Scylla.  
“I’m a necro. They keep us away from everyone else.”  
Raelle could feel the room drop three degrees colder as Abigail’s glare shot to her. “You brought a necro to our unit dinner? Is this what’s been distracting you from training?”  
“Let’s all stay calm,” Tally said.  
Raelle defensively shifted closer to Scylla. “Yeah, and what’s the big deal? A necro can’t sit with a great High Atlantic?”  
Abigail leaned across the table, getting in Raelle’s face. “I swear, if this shitbird is what’s keeping you from focusing on training—”  
“She’s not a shitbird. And she’s not a distraction.” Raelle stood up. “Come on, Scyl. We’re leaving.”  
Raelle walked out, Scylla following her confident gait before shooting Abigail a parting grin.

They stood outside the dining room, Raelle’s head cast downward, Scylla’s hands on her shoulders. “It’s fine, really. I’m the one who asked to get dinner,” Scylla said.  
“No, I shouldn’t have taken you to dinner with Abigail.”  
“Raelle, look at me.” And Raelle did, gazed into those calm blue eyes, the ones that reminded her of the deepest part of the ocean. One look in those eyes and she’d believe anything that came out of Scylla’s mouth. “I’m not upset, I promise. And the way you stuck up for me in there? That was really sweet.”  
“Well, I wasn’t gonna let anyone talk to you like that.”  
“My Southern gentlewoman.” She looped her arm through Raelle’s. “Walk me back?”

After she and Raelle parted ways with a quick “I’ll see you soon,” Scylla advanced on the balloon in her mirror.  
“Why did you have to give me _the_ hardest mark to go after?” she said, pacing left to right and back again. “Every time I make a move, it’s like she’s terrified. Either she isn’t interested in me like that or she’s the most oblivious girl I’ve ever met in my life.”  
Words appeared horizontally across the mirror: _Find a way._  
“Okay, by doing what? I tried asking her out and she interpreted it as me wanting to go to dinner with a Bellweather.”  
 _Find another way. Befriend her. Lure her to us._ With that the balloon popped, leaving Scylla alone with her frustrations.  
She was cute. She knew that. So why weren’t her charms working on the openly gay Raelle? There were times she was sure the girl was getting flustered in her presence, but she didn’t seem the nervous type. Maybe Fort Salem was just too new for her. Maybe she was still reeling from the death of her mom, wasn’t quite herself yet, something Scylla could understand.  
Or maybe she simply didn’t like Scylla like that.  
Scylla wilted at the thought. She’d thought about Raelle a lot—strictly for the mission, of course—trying to pinpoint her weaknesses, figure out the best way to suck the girl in. She wanted Raelle to return the adoring gaze Scylla casted at her, to kiss her with those soft pink lips, to play with her hair and laugh at her jokes and—  
And thereby proving to the Spree she could successfully complete her task. Scylla wasn’t supposed to actually feel for the mark, only pretend to. And that’s what she was doing. Pretending.  
So why did she bristle at the suggestion she simply “befriend” Raelle, not even taking that goal into consideration?

When Raelle returned to her room, Tally was in her bed, Abigail nowhere to be found, thank God. She wasn’t in the mood for another fight.  
Tally perked up at Raelle’s presence, clambered down to Raelle’s bunk before Raelle even sat down. Her eyes were lit with vicious enthusiasm. “Tell. Me. Everything.”  
“About what?”  
“About Scylla, of course! When did you meet? How long have you been together? Why haven’t you told us about her?”  
“Whoa, Tal.” Raelle held up two hands in surrender. “We’re not dating.”  
“What? But—you seemed so into each other.”  
Raelle laughed in disbelief.  
“I’m serious! But you like her, though, don’t you? And she clearly likes you.”  
Raelle went quiet. “No she doesn’t, Tal.”  
It was Tally’s turn to laugh. “Did you see the way she was looking at you?”  
“I was too busy seeing the way _Abigail_ was looking at her.”  
Tally sighed. “Don’t let Abigail ruin something that could be good. I’m sure Scylla didn’t mind.”  
“She didn’t, she was cool about it, but—“  
“So you should do something!” Tally shook her shoulder. “Make a move!”  
“Like what? She’s given me zero reason to think she’d be into me.”  
“Maybe you haven’t been looking,” Tally said.  
“Okay, wanna scry me some evidence?”  
Tally laughed. “Sure, I’ll get you a glass. Maybe then you’ll see it for yourself."

“What are you thinking about?” Scylla asked.  
The two were in Scylla’s room after their respective training, Scylla applying unnecessary makeup in the mirror, Raelle watching from the foot of her bed.  
 _How pretty you are. How you don’t need that blush you’re so diligently putting on, though it does look super cute on you._  
“Nothing really. Just, what we were talking about when I first met you, about my plans for basic.” That was true too—it _had_ been on her mind lately.  
“You’re not still thinking about becoming war meat, are you?”  
“No. Just, how best to honor my mom’s memory, not supporting the thing that killed her, you know?”  
“I get it.” All trace of playfulness was gone from Scylla’s features as she turned to face Raelle. “My parents were dodgers. The military...” Her voice wavered. “The military caught them and killed them.”  
Raelle’s heart snapped in half. “Oh my god, Scyl. I’m so sorry.”  
“So I do get it,” Scylla continued. “I don’t really tell people that, so...”  
“I appreciate you telling me," Raelle said. She stood to move beside Scylla. "You know, since I've been here you're the only person who hasn't been all 'rah rah, the army is great.'"  
Scylla smiled at her. "So have you for me, and this is my second year. Thank you. Really. You have no idea..."  
Raelle smiled back. "No. Thank you."  
"Enough of that sad stuff." Scylla turned back to her makeup kit. "You ever put on makeup?"  
"No, not really."  
Scylla appraised her through the mirror. "You don't need it."

Scylla was running out of time. The Spree were pressing in on her. And Raelle continued to be...Raelle.  
Her first impression of her mark, when she’d watched her with her unit from a distance, was that the girl would be closed off. Grumpy. Distant. Yet she seemed more and more open when Scylla was around. And the more open she seemed, the more Scylla learned about her, the more Scylla realized all the two had in common, the more the problem shifted. It wasn’t that Scylla couldn’t lure her in, but that now she was the one being lured instead.  
 _Bring Raelle Collar to us._ The first words on that mirror were seared in Scylla’s brain, initially a call to action that made Scylla’s blood rush, motivating her to perform with everything she had. But now...Scylla didn’t know if she could go through with the mission.  
She also didn’t know if Raelle felt the same way. Oblivious or disinterested? It was a question she still hadn't been able to answer.  
It didn’t matter. Either way, she couldn’t just hand Raelle over to the Spree like the war meat she’d dissuaded her from becoming. Either way, Raelle had grown on her, more than Scylla could have ever seen coming. Either way, the girl was hers now. Hers, not theirs.  
A trip to her meadow would help clear her mind, she decided.

Raelle lay in Scylla’s meadow, wishing the other girl were here with her, wishing she didn’t wish that at all. The stronger her feelings grew, the scarier they became. And Tally hadn’t helped, imbuing her with the false hope that they could be reciprocated.  
She thought of her mother. She’d been so great to Raelle when she first came out, being respectful enough to not say “I already knew” even though she definitely did. She’d encouraged Raelle’s relationship with her first girlfriend, supported her through a messy breakup with her second. What would she say now? “Never doubt your gut,” probably. Problem was, Raelle’s gut was utterly perplexed.  
Footsteps startled her out of her thoughts. She looked up and there was Scylla standing over her, as if she’d summoned her from her thoughts.  
That wasn’t possible for her to do, right?  
Scylla’s hands moved to her pockets. “Hey, sorry, I didn’t know you were here. I can go, if you want to be alone.”  
“This is our spot, remember?” Raelle patted the ground beside her and Scylla lay down, their hair overlapping. Raelle let the silence linger. It made her feel closer to Scylla, in a way.  
Her gut was clear now.  
She rolled over to face her. “Kind of funny that you’re here right now.”  
Scylla cocked an inquisitive eyebrow. “Oh? Why’s that?”  
“Because I was...” Raelle remembered Tally’s voice in her head, pictured her mom’s encouraging gestures. She could do this. “I was thinking about you.”  
Scylla’s smile almost made Raelle forget what she was going to say next.  
She continued. “What I’m trying to tell you is, I...I guess I kind of like you, and I was wondering if you might feel a similar way.”  
Raelle steeled herself for her reaction. She was ready to hear “I don’t see you like that,” “I’m not into girls,” “I’m not looking for anything right now.”  
But what she wasn’t expecting was for Scylla to rear her head back and laugh.  
Raelle’s face flushed again. It was one thing to reject her, but to laugh? That was downright cruel. She couldn’t wait to tell Tally how she’d been right after all. Of course the girl didn’t like her, and now she was getting laughed at for being an idiot—  
Catching Raelle’s look, Scylla turned serious. “Sorry. It’s just that—you realize I’ve asked you out, right? And tried to kiss you? And dropped hints whenever I could?”  
“I’m sorry, what?”  
When Scylla laughed again, it was softer, and she stoppered it with a gentle kiss on Raelle’s lips.  
She pulled away and Raelle remained dumbfounded.  
“So you do like me?”  
Scylla rolled her eyes and kissed her again.


End file.
